Ten Months

 Another month has come and gone and Little Bird continues to keep us on our toes. By our best home measurements, she hasn't gotten any taller or gained any weight. Our methods are not the most precise but it is also probably due to a combination of her eating habits and constant motion. Now that Little Bird knows she can feed herself, she will only eat a little off the spoon and wants to do the rest on her own. She is also a fickle eater--one day she scarfs down cooked carrots and the next just throws them all on the floor. This is true of a lot of other foods too--pears, freeze-dried raspberries, sweet potatoes, scrambled egg. So her intake is probably not as consistent as it was when it was all bottles. The things she almost always eats are cheese, yogurt, Joes Os, and crackers. Our little dairy and grain girl.

Little Bird has been content to keep crawling and cruising. She doesn't currently seem to interested in balancing to stand on her own or to walk. But I doubt this will last for long. She uses the skills she has to get all over the place and into everything. This month she discovered the bottom stair. Usually she just goes the the stairs to pound on them but a couple times she has gotten herself up onto the first step. She has gotten very good at climbing over things to get to her target and she will stand on tip toes and stretch so far to try to get phones and computers.

We got her a walking toy/stroller to push around. At first she was much more interested in climbing onto the box and playing with it. Now she is mostly interested on the toys that are attached and the little musical bear. But if we stand her up behind it she will push it as she walks along. But as soon as she hits an obstacle and can no longer go straight, she is done. She needs to learn how to turn.

 It is amazing how she finds things to put in her mouth. She thinks it is so fun and often shows it off to us. She has gotten good at pushing it out with her tongue so we can get it out. So cooperative.

Grandma will be proud of how LB lets us brush her teeth every night. She is getting much better at not trying to bite the bristles as we brush.

We have been trying to teach Little Bird a few signs so she can communicate with us on some basic things. She watches a video "Baby Signing Times" where they teach the signs with music. She is most interested in the introduction song and very quickly learned the sign for baby. When you say the word baby now she puts her hands together and rocks her arms. She will pat her leg for dog (although she says dah for the dogs too). And most recently she has figured out milk. So much fun.

Speaking of dogs, they are going to have to be wary of this girl. More and more she crawls over to get them.  We are trying to teach her to be soft with them because often she grabs two hands full of hair and then bites their hair and pulls it out. No wonder Sylvester is a little wary. Sadie just takes it and sometimes it looks like a wrestling match as Little Bird tries to grab a hold of her. Sadie gets her right back though with a licking attack.

Little Bird's hair is slowly growing, mainly on the top. Right after baths it is a little curly up there. Such a little joy. We love you LB.